The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1887-01-12
TWO TELESCoPED TRAINS
Great Loss of Life in Railway Col
lision.
FREIGHT TE4IS-EieHT BODIES TAKEN
FROM TEE EuRSIxs WEEK AxD OH
EE= MISSING

Near Tifin, Ohio, about two O'Clock on
Tuesday morning the vest ',ound express
train on the Baltimord * Ohio Railroad
oollided with an easi-bound freight En-
gires and ears were telescoped The ear
caught fire. and an unknown number OF
Passengers and railroad hands perished
IN the flames Eight bodies are known
10 have been removed from the wreck.
but some estimates Of the loss Of life are
Is high as nineteen. which i probably
an exaggeration- The calamity was due
IN the folly Of Conductor Fletcher. Of the
freight train who, without orders, at
tempted to run FOR siding where be
might lay off to let the express pass His
engine gave out before that point vas
reached, and the exp press. which was run
ming al tremendous speed. crashed into It.
FEARFUL DISASTER
TIFFIN, Ohio, January 4.-While the
/ Thermometer was below zero al 2.l5
O'Clock this morning. the west-bound ex-
I pr-ss train on the Baltimore & Ohio Rail-
road, which lei1 New York yesterday for
/ Chicago, came into collision seven miles
east ofthis city with an e4s5-bound freight
train The crash vas teyon conception
Z fhe eXpress had Just passed the little
town Of Republic, and the engineer did
( not ser the freight until he was rounding
I = curve and il vas within one hundred
/ yards Of MIN. Conductor Fletcher, of
I the freight had received orders al this
city, to side-track at Scipio. five miles
F west Of Republic, 70 allow the e4st-bound
I passenger train n pass, and being under
no particular orders, and having. a. he
claimed, thirty-fve minutes TO make the
switch at Republic, before the west-bouHd
train was due, which would ordinarily
Z take about eighteen minutes. be pulled
out after the east-b0uHd train b 10 passed
I The night was cold, and he bad difficulty
IN keeping up steam, and about two hun
+ dr-d yards from the switch the engine
came 70 = standstilL Although it must
Z haye been apparent 10 him thai there
w4s little time To he lost, no warning was
sounded until they came 10 halt He
then started up the track with a lantern
in hls hand
He had procee lei but a few hundred
feet when he saw the headlight Of tie
west-bound express rounding the curve
and Numbering down the grade al The
rIte Of sixiy-6Ye miles an hour. Horror
stricken, he swung ms lantern. but too
late. and with frightful crash the en-
sines came together The passenger train
Was in charge Of Dondnctor Tom Hack
EFT. Engineer Lem Eastman, and Fire
sr.a- W-sIiss.-, F---ge.-s..s-a - ----s--4r
Of engine No. 726, a mail and baggage car,
express, smoker. coach and "a sleepers
Engineer Eastman saw the signal and az
the same time the headlight ofthe freight
engine and, signaling down brakes, re-
gersed the lever. and with 3 warning to
MS fireman, jumped through the e.sb
window, alightins IN q sn0w bank, e.
ping with slight injury 10 bis knee.
The fireman. William Fredericks. Wa en-
.ged in stoking the ire, and was too
lhe to escape ami the next moment was
caught between the cab and boiler, his
right thigh pierced by an iron nod and
the limb broken in three or four places
Notwithstanding his terrible injuries he
fingered conscious until ; O'Clock when
death came 70 his release, II listened IN
the wreck His mother : widow, and
resides in Washington, D. c. The freight
train WAS manned by CoHduc or Fetch
er. Engineer Killer and Fireman ". J.
Callis1n and consisted OF Engine Ne. gz3.
sixteen loaded cars and few empty
ones The men escaped uninjurcd.
TIRE CARS on FIEE.
The effect OF the collision can better be
imagined than described The engines
Of the two trims reared into the air ike
a pair Of enrage,i living monsters and
then settled down upon the track. driven
into each other until tn cylinders toucl-
ed The force Of the impact jammei the
basgsce and mail car into the tender of
the fls; line, the express car into the bag
gage and the smoker into the express. In
l,sss than five Minutes from the moment
I OF the collision and before any organized
effort Of rescue could be made
the fire Of the overturned stoves coai-
municated to the woodwork and the
fame. leaped high in the air, their roar
ningling with the cries Of anguish 0 the
+ imprisoned victims. to whom death IN
( IL mo-t terrible form wa a horrid pre-
sence- The trainmen and uniujured pas
Sengers were poWeriess and could only
look upon the pyre and hope for spec
( dv termination Of the sIfferines Of the
victims. The smoker contained from
I twelve to twenty passencers. some Of
whom were immigrants. and but two
men escaped alive and one % them- an
Irish immigT8ni. was - terribly bruised
and burned that ne cannot recover The
name Of the man who escaped unInJured
could not De learned
Raggasen2sier ". F. GATES, Of Newark.
( Was the only man in MS car. and he was
+ hurt in both legs, the left leg being cat in
several places AMI splinter or rod run
/ into his right foot Fierce, the express
{ messenger, was burned to a crisp. His
+ home Is at Wheeling, where q bride Of a
( few months awaits husband who gili
never return. c. P. Bradley, Of Washing
ton, D. C.. was found hanging from the
window OF the smoker, but his legs were
fast and he could not be removed, and
there he remained until he was burned
to death and his charred remains fell to
the ground, a black and shapelsss ma =,
Joseph Postlethxaite and two sons. Sprn-
Ger and Henry, were also burned in the
smoker NJ H. Parks. whose address
cannot be learned, WAS also weslsei IN
the wreck and burned TO death, dter
handing his money, letters and cards to
one Of the railroad employees. His body
Was also consumed, a. were also those Of
several others whose names are not
known and perhaps never viii be. In
I the undertaking establishment Of the
little village, chaTred and blsckened be
yond semblanoe to humanity, lay the